John ChowinJohn’s ReflectionsGood Strategy Bad Strategy — Book ReportAbout a month ago I started working on a project where I had to help formulate a technical strategy for a very large project, so I thought…Oct 19, 2020Oct 19, 2020
John ChowinJohn’s ReflectionsSlowing DownThe biggest lesson learned is to slow down and truly embrace being a curious novice again.Dec 8, 2019Dec 8, 2019
John ChowinJohn’s ReflectionsSmall Startup vs Big CompanyIt’s been over 6 months since I’ve joined Stripe, and it’s been a really wild journey. In our recent Stripe Sessions, we announced during…Nov 3, 20191Nov 3, 20191
John ChowinJohn’s ReflectionsWorking Agreement and Definition of DoneHow defining your team’s values can foster psychological safety and improve team performance.Sep 1, 2019Sep 1, 2019
John ChowinJohn’s ReflectionsOne Thing I’ve Learned @ ReflektiveA coworker of mine asked me what I’ve learned during my time at Reflektive. One profound lesson: the power of empathy.Apr 14, 2019Apr 14, 2019
John ChowinJohn’s ReflectionsWhy I’m Joining Stripe! — And Going Back to an IC RoleIn 2015, I was in a startup, Fundly, that was going through an acquisition process. In the last 6 months I was there, I was playing the…Mar 22, 20191Mar 22, 20191
John ChowinJohn’s ReflectionsM2YL — Measuring Team PerformanceHigh performing scrum teams can’t solely be measured by business metrics in startupsMar 1, 2019Mar 1, 2019
John ChowinJohn’s ReflectionsM2YL— Objective, Critical Thinking of People (Pt. 3)How I started thinking critically of other people in an objective, productive and healthy wayNov 4, 2018Nov 4, 2018
John ChowinJohn’s ReflectionsWhen does having a CS background make sense?In the end of a recent interview with a junior-level candidate for Reflektive, the dev bootcamp grad asked me:Sep 15, 20181Sep 15, 20181
John ChowinJohn’s ReflectionsManagement, Two Years Later — Values (Pt. 2)Note: This is part 2 of a series of posts talking about my experiences and learnings the last two years. You can find the rest of the…Jul 15, 2018Jul 15, 2018